One of the worst reasons to check out a movie or TV show is because you’re left with the feeling that you’ve got no other option for fear of missing out, an outcome the Marvel Cinematic Universe is edging dangerously close towards in the aftermath of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The best blockbusters are the ones that are accessible to anybody, regardless of whether or not they’re up to date with the latest goings-on in the franchise in question, something that definitely can’t be said about the MCU’s 31st and most recent installment, which has continued free-falling at the box office after another crushingly disappointing weekend in theaters.
Kevin Feige did confirm a while back that you’ll need a Disney Plus subscription to keep abreast of the developments happening on screens both big and small, which is an increasing problem that Quantumania laid bare. Heading into the Quantum Realm caper, the uninitiated would have been even more lost by the time the lights came up than they were heading in.
To get the most out of the film as an experience, then you’d need to have seen the entirety of Loki‘s first season, been fully in the know about Jonathan Majors’ status as the next big bad, have an understanding of what the Quantum Realm is and how it works, while a knowledge of the long-term plan for both Phase Five and the Multiverse Saga as a whole – as well as Majors’ titular villain heading up Avengers: The Kang Dynasty – is an awful lot of homework required for a trip to the multiplex.
As a result, newcomers are only going to become increasingly wary of plunging themselves into the MCU 15 years in, while long-term fans checking out every new piece of content out of nothing more than loyalty or obligation is how franchises peter out and fall apart, not survive and thrive.